1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to an optical plate, a method of manufacturing the optical plate, and to a liquid crystal display device having the optical plate.
2. Description of the Related Art
Fiat panel displays such as, for example, liquid crystal displays (LCDs), plasma display panels (PDPs) and organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs) have been developed to replace cathode ray tubes (CRTs).
For example, an LCD typically includes a liquid crystal display panel including a thin film transistor substrate, a color filter substrate, and a liquid crystal layer which is interposed between the thin film transistor substrate and the color filter substrate. As the liquid crystal display panel does not emit light by itself, a backlight unit may be disposed behind the thin film transistor substrate to emit light. The amount of the transmittance of light from the backlight unit is controlled depending on an alignment of liquid crystals in the liquid crystal layer.
The backlight unit is classified into an edge type and a direct type according to the position of the light source. For example, the edge type backlight unit has a structure where the light source is provided at a lateral side of a light guiding plate, and is mainly employed in a small-sized liquid crystal display device such as a laptop or desktop computer. The edge type backlight unit has good light uniformity, durability and also occupies a small space in the LCD.
In the edge type backlight unit, the light guiding plate is used to guide light from the lateral side thereof to the liquid crystal display panel. Also, a plurality of optical sheets are provided between the light guiding plate and the liquid crystal display panel to collect and diffuse light from the light guiding plate.
However, the conventional backlight unit requires the light guiding plate and the plurality of optical sheets to be separate, thereby causing a complex configuration and increasing production costs.